Jackpot! a McRoll in the REAL World story
by Mari217
Summary: Lady luck visits a deserving member of the extended family.


_Sammy & Ilna - I hit the friendship jackpot with you guys. Sammy thanks for your help with the case details on this one. Love you both. _

_REALMcRollers & Readers your loyalty and responses are like a jackpot of riches for us._

* * *

**Jackpot!**

Cody entered the apartment and dropped his keys on the little table just inside the door. "Hey," he said to his best friend, not looking up until he shrugged off his backpack. When he did, it took all of two seconds to notice the look on Jadon's face. He wore an ear to ear grin and had an almost euphoric glint in his eyes. "What's up with y…" he began, then followed the other boy's chin tilt to the living room wall. "Woah, where'd that come from?" Cody's own eyes widened.

Perched on the TV stand was a brand new TV.

Unable to contain himself another second, Jadon half-shouted, "Surprise!"

"_Surprise?_ J, where's that from?" Cody dropped the bookbag and moved to study the TV.

"That, Codeman, is our brand new 55 inch, Class 4K Ultra HD LED TV!" He did a little twirl and held out his hands Vanna White-style.

"_Our_ … what? How?"

Jadon's smile got impossibly bigger. "I hit the lottery, bro!"

"No way." His friend's excitement was contagious, and Cody's voice rose. "Wait, for real?"

"For one hundred percent real! Uncle Dante got me a couple of tickets last Wednesday when he was in California. He was gonna drop 'em off when he got home this week, but I asked him to check the numbers." Jadon shook his head. "He called me like two hours ago. I got scared, 'cause he didn't text, ya know, so I picked it up before my shift ended an' he told me I won. I wanted him to keep the ticket, but he said no way he bought it for me. He even went and cashed it in and Venmoed me the money."

"J, you didn't have to … I mean, I can give you half..." Cody hesitated. He didn't want to hurt Jadon's feelings, but felt a little guilty about his friend spending the windfall on a TV for them to share. "I can't let you spend all your winnings without chipping in."

"No, no, man. I _won_. Like I seriously WON. Look!" He held out his phone.

Cody's mouth opened, then closed. The image was of a check from the California Lottery Commission for $7,290. "Holy crap." He found his voice and pulled his best friend into an enthusiastic, back slapping hug. "That's _awesome_, J, it's …"

Jadon could see him calculating and knew exactly what he was thinking. "Two semesters," he finished. His tone a little awestruck. "I wanted to give Mama some, but she …" He shook his head.

"Wouldn't take it,"

"Said no,"

the boys said together.

"So, I told her I was makin' a donation to the church fund and putting some in Dre and Lil' Reggie's college accounts. An' I'm taking them and Uncle Dante out for burgers soon as he's home. Then Mama said I should buy a little something nice for the apartment. Since our TV was so old I figured we put this one in here and I moved the old set to my room."

"But …"

Jadon held up his hands to stop any further protest. "We got it at Costco, it was two hundred and fifteen bucks on sale and I ain't taking nothin' from you. It's our …" He thought for a heartbeat, "celebration TV and I got enough for Spring _and_ next Fall semester after my grants and student loans are subtracted."

Cody shook his head at his friend's generosity. "You sure?" Jadon raised his brow and Cody pulled him into another hug. "Thanks, J. And I'm really happy you won. You deserve it."

* * *

The entire team was hard at work reviewing all of the files Catherine had compiled on Fairiborz and his organization during her time with naval intelligence. Steve looked down when his phone pinged a text. His features relaxed when he saw the sender was Cody.

_Know you're on a case. Can you talk a minute? It's something good._

He smiled slightly and nodded to the others. "It's Cody, I'm gonna call him for a second."

"Everything okay?" Danny raised his brow, his Dad-mode kicking in immediately.

"Yeah, he said it's good," Steve replied as he connected the call. "Cody? What's up?"

"_Hi, Steve, everything's okay. I … we, Jadon and I just wanted to tell you something if you have a minute."_

"Where are you? You're sure you're good?"

"_Yeah, we're at J's work."_

"It's just me and Danny going over…" He hesitated. The files in front of them showed acts of brutality Cody didn't need to know about. He wished he didn't need to know about them himself. "Just some work stuff." He regrouped. "You're five minutes away, Chin and Kono ran out to grab food and we're due for a food break, too." The glance at his phone told him it was close to 4:00 p.m. and the partners hadn't stopped to eat all day. "Come up."

"_You're sure? Jadon wants to tell Danny, too, so …"_

"_Awesome!_" Jadon's excited voice reached Steve's ears and he hit the speaker icon with a shrug for his partner.

Danny chimed in with, "Don't keep us waiting _all day_ … see what I did there?" He chuffed at his own pun. "We could use some good news. C'mon up."

"_We'll be right there."_

* * *

Jadon's electric excitement had him announcing, "I won the lottery!" as they pushed through the double doors to enter HQ with the police escort. Even the young HPD officer was smiling at the news.

"We don't have a lottery, All Day J," Danny teased, a smile forming. "Gambling's illegal here."

"Totally legit, D-Dawg!" He held up both hands. "My uncle got me a ticket in Monterey."

"Hunter?" Steve confirmed. He knew Kendra's brother often travelled to Fort Hunter Liggett in southern Monterey County as part of his compliance duties.

Jadon's words came out in a tumble. "Yeah, and I won big! He played the number a couple of ways."

"Hit straight and boxed, huh?" Danny used the term for winning with a number in exact order and again in any order on the same bet. "Nice, good for you!"

Cody cut in with, "J bought us a new TV. I wanted to chip in but …"

"I told you, man, no way," his friend responded and Steve smiled at Danny's expression. The banter had its usual vaguely familiar ring.

"That's great. Very generous, too. Did you put some away?" Steve didn't plan on asking the amount, but he didn't need to. Jadon was nodding as he offered the information.

"The TV was two-fifteen on sale. My mama helped me pick it out. I'm gonna add to my brothers' college money an'..." He took a breath. "I still got enough for _two_ semesters. Like all next year's _paid_!" The boy they'd met as a sixteen year old and watched grow into a responsible young man along with Cody was almost giddy. "So lunch is on me!" He held up the two McDonald's bags he was carrying.

Danny was closer and was the first to pull the grinning young man into a hug. Being the oldest of four, he knew what having two semesters of school paid for meant. "_That_ is outstanding! I'm happy for you!" He took the proffered bags as Steve hugged Jadon. "I hope you plan on helping us eat this…" he glanced at his partner, "although this animal could probably eat it all himself."

"Shut up, Danny," Steve snorted. "And thanks, Jadon, but this wasn't necessary. You didn't have to buy us lunch."

"You guys been awesome to me," he said with a shrug. "Just a little payback."

Both men nodded their thanks as they moved to the table in Steve's office and dug into the bags. Smiling at Cody around a bite of burger, Steve looked up when his partner spoke.

"So, they have a lottery in New Jersey, you know, like a normal state." Danny's expression was serious but he couldn't keep the smile from his voice.

Cody and Jadon shared a look when Steve said, "And?"

"And we're going for Christmas."

Steve's mouth twitched in a slight grin, but he sighed, "I repeat … and?"

"And you're the luckiest guy on the planet - as evidenced repeatedly by Catherine being your wife."

"No argument there."

"So, you need to play the lottery and start thinking, because…" he waved a french fry in Jadon's direction. "After the fine example of friendship set by All Day J …"

"Danny…"

"You'll need to decide what you're buying me when you hit the jackpot."

# _End. Thanks for reading!_

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